Agent for preventing and/or treating cachexia

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides an agent for preventing and/or treating cachesia comprising TCF-II as an effective ingredient. An excellent agent for preventing and treating cachexia caused by cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome (AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia, organ inflammation, surgery, diabetes, collagen diseases, radiotherapy, chemotherapy is provided by the present invention and useful for medicine.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to an agent for preventing and/or treating cachexia comprising Tumor Cytotoxic Factor-II(TCF-II) as an effective ingredient. An excellent agent for preventing and treating cachexia caused by one of the factors selected from the group consisting of cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome (AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia, organ inflammation, surgery, diabetes, collagen diseases, radiotherapy, chemotherapy is provided by the present invention and useful for medicine.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY

[0002] Generally, such a disease as cancer, acquired immunodeficiency(AIDS), cardiac disease etc. will accompany with anorexia, weight loss, physical exhaustion, marasmus, dermatrophia, xerosis, anemia, edema, abnormal blood coagulation-fibrinolysis etc. and these pathology is defined as cachexia. After suffering from this systemic marasmus, a patient will eventually die (Tamaguma, M. et.al., Igakuno-ayumi, 149, 371-373(1989)). Further, if radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy is carried out for a patient with progressive or terminal cancer for whom curative operation can not be expected, it may lead to extremely lowered biological body defensive function such as immunological function due to specific malnutrition, resulting in shortening life. Therefore, these are serious problems in practical treatment thereof. The cause of cachexia has been so far considered to be triggered by imbalance of nutritional equilibrium between (lowered) nutrition intake and (increased) nutrition consumption and affection of humoric factor mobilized from cancer or lesion on systemic metabolism. From the above situations, positive alimentation is carried out using total parental nutrition in order to supplement extreme nutritional or energetic deficiency and enhance immunological function in the treatment of cachexia. However, in cachexia, intake of energy will be used not for saving patient's life but for proliferation of tumor cell, so that alimentation can not be sufficient treatment.

[0003] Recently, monokine or cytokine, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), mobilized from macrophage is paid attention as cause of cachexia. TNF was found as a factor of affecting tumor cell and elucidated to be secreted by macrophage which is one of immunocytes and has a phagocytic action. Though it was originally expected as anti-cancer drug because of its direct cytotoxic effect and strong anti-tumor activity, recently various kinds of action of TNF have been investigated since it was found that it cause cachexia that is marasmus including weight loss of a patient with cancer or severe infection disease or a ringleader cytokine inducing inflammation. The main actions are (1) osteoclastic action, (2) induction of hyperlipidemia by inhibition of uptake of lipid into cell, (3) induction of production of interleukine 1 and colony stimulation factor, (4) impairment of angioendotherial cell, (5) intervening reaction of exotoxin shock in grave infectious disease. Though an agent for treating cachexia accompanied with cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome (AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia, organ inflammation, or these diseases themselves or various kinds of inflammatory diseases including chronic rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory gut disease are expected to be developed, in fact, there is no satisfiable agent at present.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present inventors eagerly investigated to look for an agent for treating cachexia and found that TCF-II known as tumor cytotoxic factor had an excellent effect of preventing and treating cachexia. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an agent for preventing and treating cachexia caused by cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome(AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia, organ inflammation, surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy etc., comprising TCF-II as an effective ingredient.

[0005] The present invention relates to an agent for preventing and/or treating cachexia comprising TCF-II as an effective ingredient.

[0006] An agent for preventing and treating cachexia caused by one of the factors selected from the group consisting of cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome(AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia, organ inflammation, surgery, diabetes, collagen diseases, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is provided by the present invention and useful for medicine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007]FIG. 1 shows an improving effect of TCF-II on weight loss in mice with transplanted KYN-2 cell in example 1. (++) in the figure means significant difference (p<0.01) between before and after administration and (**) means significant difference (p<0.01) from I group after administration.

[0008]FIG. 2 shows an improving effect of TCF-II on lowered hematocrit value in mice with transplanted KYN-3 cell in example 1. (++) in the figure means significant difference (p<0.01)between before and after administration.

[0009]FIG. 3 shows a suppressing effect on elevated TNF in ascites of mice with transplanted KYN-3 cell in example 1. (*) in the figure means significant difference(p<0.05) from I group and (**) means significant difference (p<0.01) from I group.

BEST MODE OF EMBODIMENT FOR THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0010] TCF-II which is an effective ingredient of the present invention is known protein derived from human fibroblast having the following characteristics: 1) Molecular weight (by SDS electrophoresis) under non-reducing conditions: 78,000 ± 2,000 or 74,000 ± 2,000 under reducing conditions: 52,000 ± 2,000 (common band A) 30,000 ± 2,000 (band B) 26,000 ± 2,000 (band C) 2) Isoelectric point: 7.4-8.6

[0011] The above TCF-II can be obtained by adsorbing culture medium of human fibroblast on an ion exchange column then purifying the elute by affinity chromatography (WO 90/10651) or by genetic engineering manipulation (WO92/01053). TCF-II which is an effective ingredient of the present invention can be derived from fibroblast or produced by genetic engineering manipulation using microbial organism or other cell as based on the genetic sequence described in WO 90/10651. Further, TCF-II obtained by genetic engineering manipulation described in WO 92/01053 can be also used. TCF-II with different carbohydrate chain or without carbohydrate chain due to difference of host cell or microbial organism can be also used. However, one with carbohydrate chain can be preferably used. TCF-II obtained by these methods can be concentrated and purified by usual isolation and purification method. For example, precipitation with organic solvent, salting out, gel permeation, affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody, electrophoresis can be exemplified. Purification by affinity chromatography using monoclonal antibody can be carried out using monoclonal antibody described in a Japanese unexamined laid open patent application No. 97(1993). The obtained TCF-II can be lyophilized or kept frozen.

[0012] Substance having the same activity as TCF-II can be used as the agent of the present invention. For example, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF; Japanese unexamined laid-open patent application No. 22526 (1988)) which is formed by insertion of 5 amino acids into TCF-II protein or purified Scatter Factor (SF;Gherardi and Stocker, Nature, 346, 228 (1990)) can be exemplified.

[0013] The agent of the present invention for preventing and/or treating cachexia can be administered intravenously, intramuscularly or subcutaneously. These pharmaceutical preparations can be prepared according to a known pharmaceutical preparation method and, if necessary, pH conditioner, buffer and/or stabilizer can be added thereto. Dose of the present agent can be different depending on the severness of symptom, health conditions, age, body weight of a patient. Though the dose will not restricted, pharmaceutical preparation comprising 0.6 mg-600 mg-TCF-II/day, preferably 6 mg-60 mg-TCF-II/day, for one adult person can be administered at once or more.

EXAMPLE

[0014] The present invention will be described below in detail by exemplifying examples. However, these are only examples and the present invention will not limited therewith.

Manufacturing Example 1

[0015] Purification of TCF-II

[0016] According to a method described in WO 90/10651 and a method of Higashio et al (Higashio, K. et. al, B.B.R.C., vol. 170, pp397-404(1990)), cell was cultured and purified TCF-II was obtained. That is, 3×10⁶ human fibroblast IMR-90 (ATCC CCL-186) cells were placed in a roller bottle containing 100 ml DMEM medium including 5% calf fetal serum and cultured by rotating it at the rate of 0.5-2 rpm for 7 days. When the total number of cell reached 1×10⁷, cells were deprived from the wall by tripsin digestion and collected at the bottom of bottle. And 100 g of ceramic with the size of 5-9 mesh (Toshiba Ceramic) was sterilized and put therein, which was cultured for 24 hours. After then, 500 ml of the above culture medium was added thereto and the culture was continued. The total volume of culture medium was recovered every 7-10 days and fresh medium was supplemented. Production was kept for 2 months like this and 4 liters of culture medium was recovered per a roller bottle. Specific activity of TCF-II in culture medium obtained as above was 32 μg/ml. Culture medium (750 L) was concentrated by ultrafiltration using membrane filter (MW 6,000 cut; Amicon) and purified by 4-steps chromatography, that is, CM-Sephadex C-50 (Pharmacia), Con-A Sepharose (Pharmacia), Mono S column (Pharmacia), Heparin-Sepharose (Pharmacia) to yield purified TCF-II. This TCF-II had the same molecular weight and isoelectric point as described before.

Manufacturing Example 2

[0017] Production of Recombinant TCF-II

[0018] According to the method described in WO 92/01053, cell transformed with TCF-II gene was cultured and purified TCF-II was obtained. That is, transformed Namalwa cell was cultured and 20 l of culture medium was obtained. This culture medium was treated by CM-sphadex C-50 chromatography, Con-A Sepharose CL-6B chromtography and finally HPLC equipped with a Mono S column to yield about 11 mg of recombinant TCF-II.

Manufacturing Example 3

[0019] Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical Preparation of TCF-II

[0020] An example of manufacturing injections of TCF-II obtained in example 1 and 2 was shown. (1) TCF-II 20 μg human serum albumin 100 mg

[0021] The above composition was dissolved in citric acid buffer solution with pH 6.03 so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (2) TCF-II 40 μg Tween 80 1 mg human serum albumin 100 mg

[0022] The above composition was dissolved in physiological saline solution for injections so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (3) TCF-II 20 μg Tween 80 2 mg Sorbitol 4 g

[0023] The above composition was dissolved in citric acid buffer solution with pH 6.03 so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (4) TCF-II 40 μg Tween 80 1 mg Glycine 2 g

[0024] The above composition was dissolved in physiological saline solution for injections so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (5) TCF-II 40 μg Tween 80 1 mg Sorbitol 2 g Glycine 1 g

[0025] The above composition was dissolved in physiological saline solution for injections so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (6) TCF-II 20 μg Sorbitol 4 g human serum albumin 50 mg

[0026] The above composition was dissolved in citric acid buffer solution with pH 6.03 so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (7) TCF-II 40 μg Glycine 2 g human serum albumin 50 mg

[0027] The above composition was dissolved in physiological saline solution for injections so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization. (8) TCF-II 40 μg human serum albumin 50 mg

[0028] The above composition was dissolved in citric acid buffer solution with pH 6.03 so that the total volume would be 20 ml. Then it was divided into vials containing 2 ml each after sterilization and sealed after lyophilization.

Example 1

[0029] Effect of TCF administration against cachexia in mice with transplanted human hepatocellular carcinoma

[0030] As transplanted human hepatocellular carcinoma, KYN-2 cells line or KYN-3 cell line which show proliferation or cell dispersion in preliminary experiment in vitro was used. Static culture of either cell line was carried out using Dulbecco's MEM medium (Nissui-seiyaku) containing 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Gibco), 12 m mol/L sodium bicarbonate, 20% heat-inactivated calf serum (Whittaker Bioproducts) at 37° C., 5% CO₂ and 100% humidity. After tripsin-EDTA was added to both of the cultured cell lines, cells were separated, washed twice with phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and prepared so as to be 2.0×10⁷ cell/ml cell suspension

[0031] After shaving hair on skin of transplantation site in 4-5 weeks old female SCID, disinfecting the site with 70% ethanol and ether anesthesia, tumor cell prepared beforehand was transplanted into the mice using 23 G syringe needle. KYN-2 cell line(1.0×10⁷) was transplanted subcutaneously into animal's back and KYN-3 (1.0×10⁷) was transplanted intraperitoneally. On 3 weeks after subcutaneous transplantation of KYN-2 cell line when the diameter of tumor became 5 mm and on 5 weeks after intraperitoneal transplantation of KYN-3 cell line, these mice with transplanted tumor were divided into 4 groups, respectively. Mice in I, II, III and IV groups were administered with vehicle, 0.3 mg-TCF-II/kg/day, 3.0 mg-TCF-II/kg/day and 30 mg-TCF-II/mg/kg respectively. Twice a day for 2 weeks, TCF-II was intrapertoneally administered in mice with transplanted KYN-2 cell line and was subcutaneously administered in mice with transplanted NYK-3 cell line.

[0032] Body weight was weighed before and after administration in mice with subcutaneous transplanted KYN-2 cell line. Hematocrit was measured before and after administration of TCF-II by taking blood sample with hematocrit heparinized capillary (Termo) from ocular fundus artery under ether anesthesia in mice with KYN-3 and centrifuging it in a usual method. Then, TNF level in ascite was measured using Factor-Test-XTM Mouse TNF ELISA kit (Genzyme) after TCF administration and autopsy under ether anesthesia. Easy Reader EAR 400 (SLT Laboinstruments) was used in absorptiometry.

[0033] Body weight change in vehicle-administered group and TCF-II administered groups are shown in FIG. 1. In the vehicle-administered group (I group), body weight was significantly lost (about 20% loss) during 2 weeks. On the other hand, body weight loss was suppressed in a dose dependant manner in TCF-II administered groups. Especially in IV group, there was no significant difference before and after administration and, furthermore, body weight in IV group was clearly higher than that in I group after administration. Hematocrit change in vehicle-administered group and TCF-II administered groups was shown in FIG. 2. By administration of TCF-II, hematocrit in mice with cancer was improved and progress of anemia accompanying with tumor proliferation was inclined to be suppressed. Further, suppressive effect of TCF-II on TNF elevation was shown in FIG. 3. TNF, which was a cause of cachesia in animals with cancer, was significantly lowered in a dose dependent manner by TCF II administration and significant suppression was observed even in II group administered with minimum dose of 0.3 mg/kg/day. That is, TCF-II administration significantly improved cachesia such as body weight loss caused by cancer proliferation, progress of anemia and elevation of TNF.

Industrial Applicability

[0034] From what was described as above, An excellent agent for preventing and treating cachexia caused by one of the factors selected from the group consisting of cancer, acquired immunodeficient syndrome (AIDS), cardiac diseases, infectious disease, shock, burn, endotoxinemia,organ inflammation, surgery, diabetes, collagen diseases, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is provided by the present invention and useful for medicine. 

1. An agent for preventing and/or treating cachexia comprising TCF-II as an effective ingredient.
 2. The agent for preventing and/or treating cachexia according to claim 1 wherein said cachexia is caused by cancer. 